Wgtn - Kapiti Autocross Sun 11 Feb

[toymato]

Kapiti autocross this Sunday. Registration at 9am. Drivers' briefing at 10am.
1 practice + 3 official runs.

See if you can negotiate a straight, hairpin, esses and sweeper and keep the car tidy for 3 laps.

Compacted gravel surface.

From Wgtn, drive north to Southwards. Drive past entrance, over railway track, round corner and turn into Otaihanga landfill. Track on left just past gatehouse.

[gurutasker]

Will be there

[Leon]

Will be there

Ditto

[pc]

I should have new mud flaps for this one.... upgrades FTW

[DexGT]

Ditto for me too

[Leon]

Ask Toybaru (Al) what happened to him today for the first time ... still, Toyota's are nothing if not resilient.

I had *huge* fun today. I've got blisters coming up on my hands from serious winding on of opposite lock. I think I might actually look at getting some race gloves, as I was getting fairly wild and wooly trying to keep Starbucks on the island.

I've slightly scuffed up one of the snow tyres. Gotta love cars with absolutely no power at all. Though it was a bit annoying having absolutely no oomph down the straight. On my absolute fastest lap I might just have gotten to 80kmh (about 5rpm from valve bounce in second).

This sideways stuff is quite slow, but highly amusing. I was trying to keep it as straight as possible in run 3, as my run 1 was my fastest at that point, and I was sure that if I drove using my brain I could beat that time. I think I was on target right up to the sweeper at the end of the front straight on the last lap. I came in just a tiny bit too hot, and got the back right out at the start of the corner. I wound on all the opposite lock I could find and put the gas to the floor. The inside front was starting to climb up the inside of the corner, and I made a silent prayer that nobody had moved any of the inside border tyres. I kept it moving and didn't spin, but lost all my momentum. So sure enough, my first time of the day was my fastest time of the day!

Awesome fun.

[gurutasker]

Was a wicked day.. learnt some great new lessons about setups and different techniques to try. Kept it quite sedate on my frst lap and got to know the course... then took a hard line to the second lap, and had it up on 2 wheels at one point

After that i started getting my lines right and my last timed lap of the day was the best, and i did even better on the un-official one after that (Even though I had suicidal pukekho's desperate to stop me).

[2LTR Rona]

**still removing dust from all parts of the body**

wasnt a bad event to watch in all in, with the exception of some rather large dust clouds

Leon - I havent uploaded all of the pics, there are probably about another dozen or so from your runs. If you want a CD burnt with all the pics then just let me know.

Guru - LJ's little sight seeing venture is captured in there for all to see

Pics Here

[Leon]

I had a small hill worth of dirt stored in the wheels of the Starbucks that I got all over the driveway when I was putting the normal wheels back on.

Snow tyres = evil on the road




Geoff's pictures of the day

[Leon]

[toymato]

Ah yes... that'll be me then

Car seemed to mysteriously fall on its side

Only got 1 dent on the rh rear door, which popped itself out. Can't tell the car's been on its side. Indestructible

I might shout it a new battery, which died today during the roll. Must have shaken up the PbS04 dregs or something.

[B1NZ]

Ah yes... that'll be me then

Car seemed to mysteriously fall on its side

Only got 1 dent on the rh rear door, which popped itself out. Can't tell the car's been on its side. Indestructible

I might shout it a new battery, which died today during the roll. Must have shaken up the PbS04 dregs or something.

not surprising really, I've seen how you drive that little beast around that track haha
I'm glad your OK though, so talk us through what happened leading up to that little indescretion haha.

Would've loved to have been there but I was enjoying the sun on the Mt maunganui beach, mmm hot bikini girls

[DexGT]

Don't forget the broken tail light from the crash ......... oh thats right someone did it pushing the car after we put you back on the wheels
I can't belive Nic let you use his car after seeing how you treat your own..... your right , Nic drives the same way

[toymato]

Not much to tell really. Just tried to get maximum speed while sliding the car through the esses and on the last left turn the car failed to go left in fact it just kept 4w drifting to the right. I guess at that stage the front right tyre must have already fallen off the rim. (As an aside, that tyre was the only flat tyre on the car in the morning, and when I pumped it up, it had a bulge and 2 dimples so I guess it wasn't in prime condition.) So the car slid off and didn't stop at the edge of the road. The 2 outside tyres slid right off and dug in, and the car tipped over in slow motion. It tipped onto its side (maybe 100 degrees) and took a little while to settle and not roll onto its roof.

After it finished its battle with gravity, I checked my helmet was on, seatbelt still on, legs and arms still in the right places, no pain, all windows and rest of cabin intact. Was vaguely amazed. Took off seat belt. Stood up, Mike v a opened the passenger's door and I climbed out.

The boys and girls pushed the car off the track. The dent in the rh rear door popped itself out as I was looking at it. Started it with jumper leads because the battery was r**ted, engine was flooded, and drove off to a flat area to change the flat. They built these Toyotas as tough as Scotty's truck.